N.J. lawmakers set to combat heroin, opiate abuse
TRENTON – State lawmakers unveiled nearly two dozen bills in a sweeping effort to curb heroin and prescription drug abuse, a crisis that has gripped New Jersey.
The 21 bills, formulated over the past year and a half, strike to core weaknesses in New Jersey’s substance abuse and treatment system.
“The current system is completely failing our children,” said Patty DiRenzo, a Camden County woman whose son, Salvatore Marchese, died of a heroin overdose in 2010.
Legislators held up the package of bills as a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to an epidemic that claimed more than 550 lives in New Jersey last.
The prescription drug monitoring program, for example, would be changed to require pharmacies to update the database once a week rather than once a month to better monitor trends of doctor-shopping, where addicts visit multiple doctors to obtain prescriptions for narcotics.
One bill would increase the state’s “embarrassing” Medicaid reimbursement rate, seen as a disincentive for health care organizations to operate in New Jersey, said state Sen. Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. Another bill would require the state Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services to annually compare and rank substance abuse providers.
The Overdose Protection Act, which allows law enforcement to carry the opiate antidote naloxone, would be expanded to include substance abuse workers and volunteers, and would require those who administered the antidote to provide the patient with overdose prevention information.
Other bills include:
• Updating how abuse and addiction are taught in schools by requiring the Department of Education to review its curriculum to include “the most recent evidence-based standards and practice.”
• Allowing medication-based therapies, like Suboxone and methadone, in the drug court system.
• Expanding Project Medicine Drop locations.
• Requiring the state Poison Control Center to establish a clearinghouse of drug overdose information.
Legislators hailed the package as a bipartisan effort with wide support, because “this issue has touched every inch of New Jersey,” said Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, R-Monmouth.
But it’s going to cost money. Vitale estimated an initial cost of $20 million and said he anticipates items in the bills to be included in the next budget discussions.
Lawmakers made the case on Tuesday that not undertaking these efforts will end up costing taxpayers more money. Multiple studies have shown returns for every dollar spent on prevention saves between $7 and $15 in crime and criminal justice costs.
‘Health issue’
“This is a health issue,” Angelini said. “And what will it look like if we don’t address it?”
Roseanne Scotti, director of the New Jersey Drug Policy Alliance, lauded the measures as “a groundbreaking bill package.”
“The whole thing about the war on drugs was there’s a silver bullet,” she said.
“It’s a multi-dimensional problem, and it’s going to be a multi-dimensional solution.”
Vitale said there are no delusions that the bills, even if all of them pass both houses and are signed by the governor, will solve the opiate problem.
“We know that since the dawn of drugs and alcohol people have been addicted and will be addicted,” he said. “But we can make a difference.”
Dustin Raciopp writes for the Asbury Park Press, a sister paper of the Daily Record: 732-643-4028; dracioppi@app.com
Cost of effort
The 21 bills unveiled by state lawmakers are estimated to cost $20 million. A breakdown of some of the initiatives:
• Department of Human Services appropriation for substance-abuse prevention and programs: $5 million
• Extending the Overdose Prevention Act: $500,000
• The Poison Control Center establishing a clearinghouse of drug overdose information: $500,000